Investigating Concrete Factors Related to the 7-12 Year Old Children’s Occupation with out of School Athleticism

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to study the relation between concrete factors that affect the 7-12 year old children’s occupation with out of school athleticism (weight, obesity, sex, parents, sports’ selection, systematic exercising, and causes of exercise interruption). 288 children of two elementary schools of a provincial capital were used as sample. The data collection was conducted with the direct and individual personal interview method. From the results it became clear that 38.2% of children weighted more than normal (21.9% overweighed, 16.3% obese). 17.7% of the overweighed children and 13.2% of the obese children did not workout at all. 77.1% of the children had no relation to sports, 7.3% were working out 1-2 times a week and 15,6% were working out 3-6 times a week. Among the children that were practicing a team sport, only 10.4% were really into it, while 12.5% were divided in 11 individual sports. 21.2% were practicing a sport, but had interrupted due to studies (12.8%) or due to lack of time (4.2%). Conclusively, the number of overweighed and obese children that lived away from sports was high. The number of children working out systematically was only 15.6%. Girls took part in sports less than boys and kept this conduct in the future. An important number of children willingly abandoned their sport due to outside pressure (study for school, foreign languages).